Hidden in the vines
a large warted cucumber
jumps out of reach.
A toad!

-1997

Delicate puffs
of marshmallow snow
carefully perched
on a branch,
await the trigger of my hat
to melt their way down my back.

-2010
Deep in the tomato jungle
Fruits of yellow, purple and red
Tell of their readiness
To go to market.

-2010
Sugarin' Chores
Snowflakes hurry through my flashlight beam,
As my boots knead new snow with spring mud,
On my nightly Hajj to keep the boil alive,
For as long as possible until the dawn,
To match the power of the flowing sap,
With my meager evaporator and will.
The prize at the finish line are jars of syrup
And Spring.

Lois & Tom met in the winter of 1990, and in the spring Lois moved to Peacemeal Farm in Dixmont where Tom had been working since 1980. In 1990, Tom's mother Dorothy moved there, too. In the spring of 1995 we decided to buy our own place. We found our new place in Pittsfield, a run-out 8 acre hayfield in the midst of 74 acres of partly cut over woods on the Snakeroot Road. In the fall of 1995, we moved our mobile homes onto the land and started to farm.

Leaf rakers begin deliveries. We advertise for leaves in The
Community Newspaper.

Built Sunroom around South & West walls of Addition.
Brought up cement mixer from Wilmington after Thanksgiving and
began pouring Flagg form wall as base. Finished placing last of
Hyzod after first snow in early January with David's help.

Carrots, scallions, lettuce and beet greens harvested during
May from our first winter GH plantings.

Attended first MOFGA Spring Thing. Made over $400 on plants
& early GH veg in 2 days.

Summer '99

Asplundh delivers dozens of loads of chips. Used for mulch in
apple trees, cukes & ssq, garlic, spread on hay fields
(extra heavy on field access roads), spread on Middle Perennial
Garden with rye cover, and part of Lower Veg Garden with rye
cover. Also used to level woods trails, which turns out to be a waste.

Tom developed separate storage areas for drip tape of different lengths from different fields to be
stored separately to simplify re-using the tape next spring.

Tom built a freestanding woodshed for the maple sugarhouse which will accept incoming 4 foot long firewood, thus allowing the firewood for the season two years hence to be stored under cover for the first time.

Tom and Jack build a 140 foot long grape arbor from cedar poles in the Grape Garden.

Summer '08

Bud Glencross offers us the use of some of his adjacent land to expand our gardens. We opt for a two acre section, and once it is mowed in July we
rototill the sod twice and plant buckwheat as a green manure crop.

We buy a new set of tines for the Kuhn rototiller from Dorr's Equipment.

A three-season water line is run out to the new summer kitchen at Coco and Jack's.

Fall '08

We buy two bed formers and four used greenhouses from Dale Penney. Now we have to figure out where to put the greenhouses.

We buy a 18 yard load each of crusher dust and 1½ inch rock from Frank Woodworth for repairing and upgrading farm roads.

We buy a Ford Econoline 350 dual rear wheel high cube van so we can haul more to our biggest markets. Can't get it inspected, so it becomes a storage vehicle.

We buy a 2010 Subaru Outback in late December '09, since after its accident the '97 Ford Escort isn't worth fixing and probably wouldn't pass another inspection anyway. We keep the Escort to use as a farm vehicle.

Fall '10 (Oct-Dec)

Dan, Jay, Mike, Casey and Elmer help cut back woods by 100' next to Southwest Garden, producing poles and firewood.

GH 2 taken down. Topsoil stockpiled by burdock garden. Hole filled with rocks and topped with gravel, bought from Joe Santos from Canaan.

Poles from woods cutting used to frame New Barn where GH 2 once stood. New Barn completed in December.

Half inch black plastic irrigation supply pipe installed leading from our wells up to the Glencross Piece, so that crops planted there can be watered next year.